Can't Go Home
by FTheBrainN
Summary: RS After the adventure of a lifetime and facing heartache that would break most grown men, Sora gets ready to face his toughest choice yet. Sequel to Desire by shininekochan


Can't Go Home  
(Part 2 of the Changing Tides trilogy)  
Rating: G  
Series: KH  
Genre: Gen  
Pairing: R/S  
By Moon Faery

Summary: After the adventure of a lifetime and facing heartache that would break most grown men, Sora gets ready to face his toughest choice yet.

Warnings: Shounen Ai

Disclaimer: I don't own, Neko doesn't own... we all know the drill.

Note: The prequel Desire was written by shininekochan _after_ Can't Go Home, but should be read before it.

* * *

Sora packed up the last of his clothes by moonlight, not risking a lamp. It might wake his mother, and he didn't want her to know until he was long gone.

The remaining bits of his childhood had been carefully stored on various shelves and in drawers, leaving the room as spotless as a museum display. In the middle of the desk was a neatly folded letter, with his mother's name on it. Hopefully, she'd understand why he had to go. Maybe one day he'd even come back to visit... Maybe. Probably not, but anything was possible.

When he'd gotten back from Kingdom Hearts, his room had been just like he left it, ready for him to move back in and return to being just Sora. He'd tried. He really had. But "just Sora" wasn't there anymore. Destiny Islands were just the same as they'd always been. He was the one that had changed. What used to be cozy had turned confining, and friendly had turned to nosy. When he'd helped save the universe, a curfew seemed ridiculous, but how could he tell his mom that? After watching people have their hearts stolen and vanish forever, he couldn't imagine worrying about things like boys and girls and what to wear to a beach party. In a community as small as the Islands, it was impossible to keep any secret at all, and he had to keep the biggest of them all...

For them, he'd only been gone a day. For him, it had been a lifetime.

It was true. You really can never go home.

Riku was the same way. Neither of them fit in anymore, and all the other kids knew it and stayed away. Maybe that was why they'd moved beyond friendship. The feelings had always been there, and once they didn't have the rest of the world as a distraction it was inevitable that they act on them. It only made them more _other_, more outcast. Even Kairi avoided them most days. But she'd spent most of the adventure unconscious, so maybe it hadn't affected her as much.

Darkness swirled and thickened in the middle the newly-cleaned room as he zipped his bag. Riku stepped out of the portal, bag thrown over his shoulder. They'd only recently discovered that he could still use the powers Maleficent had given him. Sora knew Riku worried that they meant he was still tainted by darkness, but Sora thought that good and evil probably weren't as clear-cut as everyone else seemed to think. Still, light or dark, Riku's powers were their only way off of Destiny Islands without a Gummi Ship and they were going to use them.

The darkness flared and dispersed behind the older boy. "You ready?"

Taking one last glance around, Sora nodded, trying to ignore the pang in his chest. Everything he'd ever been before Kingdom Hearts lay around him. He could barely remember who that had been anymore. "Yeah. I'm ready."

One of Riku's gloved hands wrapped around Sora's, pulling him into a hug. He could feel black energy creeping along his skin as Riku summoned a portal to Traverse Town. It felt like Riku, sharp and prickly, but warm too, spiced cinnamon on the back of his tongue.

"I'm going to miss this place," he admitted, nestling his head under his lover's chin.

"Me too." A kiss pressed against his hair. "Let's go."

Sora nodded, wrapping his arms tight around Riku as the energy took them in a swirl of power like a contained windstorm. As the remains of his old life blinked out around him, it hit Sora that if you couldn't go home, the next best thing was a pair of warm arms around your waist and a challenging grin to take with you when you leave. That was home enough for him.


End file.
